A group of Ohio veterans recently attempted to block the razing of a veterans memorial in Columbus.

According to The Columbus Dispatch, city commissioners voted this week to demolish the Franklin County Veterans Memorial in order to make room for a multimillion dollar glass-and-steel veterans memorial and museum. The proposed facility is part of a larger plan to develop the Scioto Peninsula – which is located near downtown Columbus – and turn it into a cultural and educational hub. 

Although a new building will be built in the place of the Franklin County Veterans Memorial, many Ohio veterans were angered by the redevelopment plan. According to the news source, a group of former servicemembers attended the city meeting to fight for the 60-year-old veterans complex. Some veterans argued that the memorial just needed to be renovated, not rebuilt, while others claimed that the new facility might drive away local veterans and their families.

"I feel outnumbered here. I'm not a general, I'm just a sergeant, but the military taught me what it means to be a family," told the news outlet, adding that many local veterans feared they would be charged a fee to enter the museum and memorial.

The Franklin County Veterans Memorial was established in 1955, and features a convention and entertainment hall used for trade shows, competitions and concerts, according to the memorial's website. 

Following the departure of Deputy Secretary of State Ash Carter, President Obama has appointed Christine Fox to serve under Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel as the acting Deputy Defense Secretary. Fox, who previously served as the director of the department's Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation, will become the highest-ranking women to ever serve at the Defense Department.

"As a key leader of the Strategic Choices and Management Review, [Fox] helped identify the challenges, choices, and opportunities for reform facing the department during this period of unprecedented budget uncertainty," Hagel said in a statement released by the Pentagon.

According to Politico, Fox has been working in defense for decades, and was the inspiration for the fighter-pilot instructor in "Top Gun," the film's lead female role played by Kelly McGillis. A defense source told the news outlet that despite her vast experience, Fox does not want to be considered as a candidate for the permanent deputy defense secretary position. 

Former Deputy Defense Secretary Carter announced his resignation in October, but did not officially leave his post until Dec. 4. Fox will take over this week and serve until Carter's successor is appointed. 

After establishing the Home Base veterans employment program last month, Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad is continuing to push for veterans benefits. The governor announced Dec. 3 that the program, which encourages Iowa-based businesses to hire former servicemembers, is adding two incentives for local companies and stores.

According to The Sioux City Journal, Iowa companies that meet the requirements can be named a Home Base Iowa Business, while towns can be deemed a Home Base Community. To qualify as a Home Base Iowa Business, companies must post job openings on the Home Base Iowa website, hire a specific number of veterans and enroll in the Skilled Iowa program. 

"Iowa Workforce Development has fielded dozens of calls and is working to place a number of veterans already," the governor said during a news conference. "We want veterans to know that Iowa can provide them not just a job, but a career in a caring, welcoming community."

Branstad added that all veterans in the state are eligible to use the Home Base services.

More than 240,000 veterans live in Iowa, according to a 2009 state summary from the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

Veterans who have had run-ins with authorities might be able to find a second chance thanks to a new path through the court system. 

According to ABC News, former servicemembers and legal professionals gathered this week at the Veterans Treatment Court Conference in Washington, D.C., to discuss the benefits of the courts. The conference was sponsored by Justice for Vets, a nonprofit that connects former servicemembers with the mental health and substance abuse treatment that they need. 

Many veterans who attended the conference thanked the system for saving them from incarceration and providing them with a chance to reform, while legal professionals discussed the future of treatment courts. 

"Someday in the not-so-distant future when there is a vet treatment court in reach of every vet in need, we will look back on today as the moment we turned the corner," Judge Robert Russell, who founded the first veterans treatment court in 2008 said at the conference, as quoted by the news source. 

According to the Justice for Vets official website, veterans treatment courts work in a similar way to addiction and mental health courts. The courts require frequent appearances – typically bi-weekly – and mandatory attendance at counseling sessions. 

Deputy Defense Secretary Ash Carter officially leaves his post at the Department of Defense Dec. 4, but he's not departing without first saying his goodbyes.

In a ceremony celebrating Carter's career at the Defense Department, the outgoing deputy defense secretary thanked his colleagues, including Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, and also acknowledged the future of America's defense readiness. 

"It's been the greatest privilege of my life," Carter said in his speech, as quoted in a statement released by the Pentagon. "More broadly, I hope we continue to learn ever better ways to combat terrorism, because as long as there is human society, there will be the problem of the few against the many, the aberrant and twisted against the decent and tolerant civilized life."

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin E. Dempsey opened the reception with remarks, followed by speeches from Hagel and Jeremy Bash, the chief of staff for former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. Bash read a note from Panetta to Carter.

According to the Pentagon, Carter served under 11 defense secretaries during his two tours at the DOD. The Washington Post previously reported that Carter was up for the job of Defense Secretary for the second term of the Obama administration. 

Following the June 26 Supreme Court decision that struck down the Defense of Marriage Act, the U.S. Army has officially extended its military benefits to the same-sex spouses of Army servicemembers.

According to Military Times, a directive issued by the Army in November stated that married same-sex servicemembers are eligible for a range of entitlements, including military identification cards and survivor benefits. The directive also clarified that servicemembers who live in a state were gay marriage is not recognized can take up to a seven-day leave to travel to state where a license can be obtained. However, a leave of absence will not be granted for those who currently live in a state where same-sex marriage is legal.

The official directive from the Army falls in line with the Department of Defense's policy, which was altered last summer in response to the overturn of DOMA. 

"It is now the Department's policy to treat all married military personnel equally," Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said in statement released last August. ""This will provide accelerated access to the full range of benefits offered to married military couples throughout the department." 

Two North Carolina residents are currently working hard to honor fallen Vietnam veterans by putting a face to their names.

According to The News & Observer, brothers Jim and Tom Reece, along with their friend Rosa King, have been tracking down families throughout North Carolina to collect photographs of their loved ones who were killed during combat in Vietnam. So far, the trio has gathered together photographs of most of the 1,820 fallen North Carolina soldiers, but are still 174 short, the news outlet reported. Once they have all the photographs collected, they hope to feature them on veterans and genealogy websites so that they can be viewed by the public.

However, that's not all. The photographs will also be included in a project for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. According to the memorial's website, the Faces Never Forgotten exhibit will project the images of every fallen servicemember on a two-story screen located beneath the monument. 

"Four million people a year visit The Wall, and 40 percent of them weren't alive in 1982 when it was dedicated. More than half weren't alive when the war was going on," Tim Tetz, director of outreach for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, told the news source. "We've got all these people who look at that black granite and see the names, and they say, 'How does this really impact me?'"

The fund announced in November that New Mexico is the first state to have a complete photograph archive. 

Despite a drop in veterans homelessness nationwide, Pennsylvania has experienced an increase in its homeless veterans population over the last four years.

According to NBC Philadelphia, there were 46 percent more veterans in Pennsylvania living without permanent housing in 2013 than there were in 2009. About 440 of the state's more than 1,400 homeless veterans reside in Philadelphia. 

The state's sizeable increase of its homeless veterans population strays considerably from the national rate, which dropped 24 percent since 2009, the news source stated. Several veterans said that a reason for the increase might be Philadelphia's high unemployment rate, which is currently 10.8 percent, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

"Jobs would be the No. 1 thing," Darryl Halsell, a homeless Philadelphia veteran, told the news source. "A lot of vets here want to work. It's hard to find work."

A recent report from the Department of Housing and Urban Development found that there were more than 57,000 homeless veterans in January 2013, marking an 8 percent decline from 2012 and a 24 percent drop between 2009 and 2013. Approximately 60 percent of the nation's homeless veterans reside in shelters or transitional housing programs. 

Due to the sequester and recent government shutdown, the military has been facing a lack of funding for some of its essential base operations, including commissaries.

According to The Fayetteville Observer, the Department of Defense is considering closing more than 175 commissaries located on domestic military installations, a move that will impact many military shoppers.

"[It] would be a dramatic impact on a lot of people," Mark Erskine, an Army veteran who is now commander of American Legion Post 230, told the news source. "Around here, lots and lots of veterans stay here. They stay here so they have access to using military benefits. The commissary and PX – those are benefits of being veterans, retired or on 100 percent disability."

The news outlet stated that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel asked the Defense Commissary Agency to create a plan that would close a majority of the military's stateside commissaries as part of the 2015 fiscal defense budget, which is due next February.

According to statistics released by the DeCA, servicemembers, veterans and military families who shop at commissaries receive about a 30 percent discount on groceries and other household goods.

After resisting for several months, the Texas Military Forces, which include the Texas National Guard and Reserves, announced Nov. 26 that it will allow servicemembers who are currently in same-sex marriages to apply for dependent benefits. 

"We look forward to having the ability to process the benefits our service members and their families are entitled to," Lt. Col. Joanne MacGregor, the state public affairs officer, said in a statement.

The new directive from the Texas Military Forces ensures that same-sex military couples will receive their spousal benefits by partnering with the Department of Defense, which will provide the funding, personnel and equipment required for processing the applications. This way, no member of the Texas National Guard has to be involved, nor will it violate the state's constitution, which does not recognize same-sex marriage.

According to The Washington Post, the Texas Military Forces has been refusing to process the dependent benefits applications from its gay servicemembers since Sept. 3, when the new rules were enacted nationwide. The shift in policy was announced by the Pentagon last August, not long after the Supreme Court struck down a provision of the Defense of Marriage Act that blocked married gay couples from being recognized by federal agencies. Under the new rules, same-sex military couples can receive military identification cards, survivors benefits and other entitlements.